 |
| Waiting bvove lock 16 Lamotte |
5.2° C Hazy clouds with sunny spells and a
very cold breeze. Mike and Graham moved vehicles first thing, leaving Graham’s
parked in a side street in Amiens and coming back in ours. On their return I
phoned the booking office and asked for a keeper for 10.15 am. OK, he said he
would contact the team. Mike got the boat ready to move, I helped to untie the
boat and we set off at ten, going upriver a bit to wind, then trundled slowly
down to the lock, bidding Bente and Kurt bye for now. Peter Pan, a tjalk we had
moored next to once in Strasburg yacht club a few years back, was moored
down
by the lock with crew on board, but no one that we knew. There were several
other boats moored there which looked permanent. Our man in a van (Department
of the Somme this time, a white van with red lettering) arrived at 10.20am and
had problems with lock 14 Corbie. The panel on the lockside didn't seem to be
working properly, so he opened one of the boxes by the tail end gates and opened
a paddle and we descended slowly. I had no bollard on my side of the lock for
my centre
rope, so I stood on the stern as we descended ropeless (he did say we
could put a rope around the lamp post but Mike declined) and we chatted with Jill
who was steerer on MR for the first lock. Down 2.8m and the lock keeper wanted
us to go out singly and keep over to the right. The weir flows across the canal
right below the gates, but it didn't move us over by much - he's too used to light
and flimsy hire boats! Just over 5kms to the next. Mike did some painting and I
steered. The same keeper had the next lock, 15 Daours, ready for us. This one
was operated from boxes by the gates and this time the lock worked OK, down
3.2m and we were soon on our way again. Just 4.6kms to our last
lock 16,
Lamotte, so we motored on after saying au'voir to our keeper who had only the
first two locks to do. On downstream following the twisting tortuous course of
the river, past a large chemical works that our old cruising guide says is a féculerie
(a factory extracting starch from potatoes) and found the lock full, but no one
around. Tied to the waiting area and had some lunch. Mike had a chat with a couple
on bicycles who had been taking photos as we moored up. After lunch we went out
and sat on the concrete benches to natter with Jill and Graham while we waited
for
our mobile lock keeper, but there were no signs of a keeper at 1.30pm. As I
was about to go and phone the booking office, a young man in a Somme van turned
up at 1.55pm and started talking with Graham in German. The lock was already
full so he had to go and find the power supply in the lock house (which was being
renovated and turned into a hire base for bikes and canoes like the one in
Cappy) to turn on the panel (lectern style again) and he started talking to me
in English until he couldn't think of a word and I said tell me in French (in
French) and we had quite a long conversation, first about the fact that he
thought our boats were Dutch (then he spotted the Union Jack on the Ensign) about
mooring in Amiens, which he said would be OK – gets rowdy in summertime
when
the youth are on school holidays plus there is a pub right by the quay (which
only opens at weekends at this time of year). Dropped down 1.3m in the last
lock the day and set off again on the river down into Amiens. Almost 10kms to
the next lock in the city centre, but we’re not going quite that far today. As
we got closer to the city there were little wooden cabins on the banks, some of
them beautifully kept, others not so and were falling into disrepair, with
gardens and little canals. First signs of city life were youths in rowing
skiffs who hadn’t got a clue about passing or overtaking other
boats and were
not being very observant either, so we had to toot on our hooter several times
to make them look round and see that they were about to crash into our bows
(one nearly hit our stern fender coming up behind us). There is very little moving
traffic on the river so they think they have it all to themselves – not today lads!
We moored on a new pontoon at the quai d’amont (the upper quay) and left room
for a small one in front of us. More posts with water and electricity, 2€ in
the slot AND a pump out complete with hose (there was one in Corbie but it had no
hose) Mike took some photos and I was pleased to find we had a good 4G signal
to do my blog, then Mike said sorry we have no satellite TV as there are trees
in the way.
 |
| Lock house at Lamotte being transformed |
 |
| Caulking the bottom of a traditional wooden boat |
 |
| Coming into the city of Amiens |
 |
| The rowing club in Amiens opposite the mooring pontoon |
 |
| Pub by the moorings in Amiens |
 |
| Moored at new pontoon on quai d'amont in Amiens |
No comments:
Post a Comment